As more time goes on, people are learning more and more about gut function and how it is so vital to health. The gut does much more than just digestion. The gut is home to our microbiome and is necessary to produce a few neurotransmitters such as serotonin and dopamine. Gut issues can lead to a whole mess of issues such as decreased immune function, autoimmunity, depression and anxiety, irritable bowel, and even low back pain. In this article, we will discuss the gut and its role with neurotransmitter production, and how you can identify some signs and symptoms from home. Learn how gut dysfunction can be a timebomb to depression.
Feel Good Neurotransmitters
There are two neurotransmitters that, when absent, lead to some depressive feelings. The first is serotonin, which is one of the most commonly treated neurotransmitters in patients with depressive symptoms. Serotonin deficiencies are known to cause the type of depression where you feel sad and lack interest in activities you normally enjoy. Common medications that are prescribed to treat the deficiency of this neurotransmitter in the brain are selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors or SSRIs and selective norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors or SNRIs. These medications function not to produce more serotonin, but to increase the amount of time that the body can use its available serotonin, leading to a decrease in depressive symptoms.
The second feel good neurotransmitter is dopamine. Symptoms that occur with depression due to dopamine deficiency tend to be distinctively different from that of serotonin. Dopamine deficiency depression can lead to agitated depression, where things cause anger very easily, poor motivation, and a decrease in sexual desire. Medications that treat this are often classified as dopamine reuptake inhibitors that function very similarly to SSRIs, but for dopamine instead.
Neurotransmitter production
There is a phenomenon in the body that we refer to as the gut-brain axis. The gut-brain axis is the interconnection of the digestive system with brain function as it relates to neurotransmitter production and inflammation. The gut produces about 90% of serotonin and about 50% of dopamine. Without proper function of the digestive system, there will be deficiencies of these neurotransmitters, leading to depressive symptoms as described above. In order to produce neurotransmitters, there must be a plethora of precursors and cofactors present to provide the substances that are necessary. There must also be proper function and gene expression within cells that produce it.
In the case of both of these neurotransmitters, an enzyme utilizes zinc, magnesium, and vitamin B6 to convert the neurotransmitter from its precursor molecule to its active form. There is a laundry list of other vitamins and minerals necessary further up the pathway, but these three are most important because the body uses them in many metabolic processes. When there is dysfunction within the body, it uses resources to deal with the dysfunction. During this dysfunction, the body uses zinc, magnesium, and B6 for things such as immune function first. The immune system is necessary for survival. Happiness isn’t. When the gut is dysfunctional, it doesn’t only cause decreased resources for neurotransmitter production. It also provides a poor environment for their production, leading to even fewer neurotransmitters produced.
Infection
Dysfunction in the large and small intestine can arise for a variety of reasons including but not limited to infection, food sensitivities, and inflammation. These things aren’t completely separate in their cause and effect because they can often be caused by each other or can cause each other. Gut infections tend to be present in most situations where there is gut inflammation or food sensitivities. Infections can arise whenever there is opportunity for normal gut bacteria to overgrow, or when there is opportunity for foreign bacteria, fungus, or parasites to enter the system.
Following conditions such as the stomach flu or food poisoning, it is common to see imbalances in the gut flora that can lead to issues. If you are exposed to parasites through under cooked meat or by accidental ingestion through animal feces, they can easily wreak havoc on the digestive tract. Fermented foods such as kombucha or kimchi can be beneficial to help maintain a healthy gut microbiome, but too much of one type of gut microorganism can lead to overgrowth or what we call, dysbiosis.
Inflammation
Any sort of dysbiosis will lead to immune system imbalances that result in inflammation. Inflammation can be a cause for joint pains, stress, and many other issues in the body. Within the gut, chronic inflammation leads to what we call leaky gut. Leaky gut is a condition where the cells that line the small intestine become inflamed and the gaps between them become larger, allowing larger molecules to leak into the bloodstream. The intestinal lining would otherwise be incapable of absorbing these molecules. This can cause autoimmunity to certain foods such as gluten. The gluten permeates through the intestinal wall and the immune system then forms antibodies against it because it is a foreign substance. Autoimmunity then drives even more inflammation. Toxins such as plastics, allergens, and pesticides can also lead to high inflammation.
Hopefully, now that you understand a few situations that cause gut distress, I hope you understand how easy it is to have deficiencies of the neurotransmitters that the gut produces. Whenever there is an infection, inflammation, toxin, or any other situation where the digestive tract is chemically stressed, it will become more difficult to produce serotonin and dopamine in sufficient amounts.
Clean up your gut
Cleaning up your gut can be a long road, but one that is worth traveling. I recommend seeking professional help to ensure that you are making the right decisions and doing the right things to clean up. Some steps in the process that we walk out patients through are:
- Identification of the issue – We take a thorough history and sufficiently examine every patient to ensure that we are on the right track. We utilize both labs (when deemed necessary) as well as applied kinesiology to determine what the cause is and what the treatment will be. Click here to learn more about techniques we use.
- Lifestyle intervention – We walk our patients through dietary modifications that they should make to make their gut less habitable to unwanted microorganisms. This includes eliminating processed sugars, avoiding foods high in FODMAPs, and cessation of alcohol consumption until the completion of the care plan.
- Supplementation – In order to effectively treat dysbiosis, there must be antimicrobial herb supplementation to kill off unwanted stuff in the gut. There are many broad-spectrum herbs that might do the trick, but we dial in with specific, hard hitting herbs to face the issue head on. Our techniques allow us to determine the exact herb or combination of herbs that our patients need for their specific bug.
From Depressed to Impressed
Hopefully, you leave our office impressed with how much better you feel. The gut plays a HUGE role in the production of your feel-good neurotransmitters and keeping depressive symptoms at bay. There are other things that can play into neurotransmitter production, but cleaning up the gut is a great first step. Of course, without proper examination, there is no way to give definitive recommendations for what you should do. If you’d like to discuss your symptoms or have any questions, book a free 20-minute consult with me here.